Signed, sealed, delivered. The contract, that is, between Paul Virant and Ten Speed Press. He’s working on a book. I’m the coauthor.
This announcement has been a long time coming. In fact, a few weeks ago, I alluded to the project here.
I’ve been talking with Paul, the executive chef and owner of Vie in Western Springs, Illinois (pictured butchering a pork shoulder for one of the recipes), about a book for more than a year. We had several meetings before we even started formulating a proposal. Some discussions involved logistics, as in how to pull of the extensive recipe testing required for the project. (We found our answer in Tony Porreca, who’s turning into a canning expert in his own right.) Other meetings grappled with how to construct Paul’s story. We even drove up to Madison to take an acidified foods canning certification class. Now, eight weeks into recipe testing later, the project has taken off with a speed all its own.
the details
Title: The Preservation Kitchen: The craft of making and cooking with pickles, preserves, and aigre doux
Plot summary: Imagine if the Ball Blue Book was overhauled by a chef with a penchant for aigre doux and sauerkraut. The book is divided into two sections: preserves and menus that highlight preserves.
Key recipes: Part I. More than 50 recipes for preserves, such as brandied fruits, relishes made with eggplant, and several kinds of pickled peppers, a selection aigre doux recipes, and an entire section on sauerkraut. Part II. Seasonal menus that use preserves, like a summer menu that includes a gazpacho, in which most ingredients come from a jar, followed by a panzanella salad made with pickled and fresh fennel and grilled skirt steak.
Other essentials: the book includes an intro to canning for novices. It also provides more advanced tips, such as how to use pH meters to ensure preserves are safe for water-bath canning. Also: all canning recipes will provide volume and weight measurements as well as percentages, which will enable readers to scale batches bigger or smaller if they need to.
ETA: The book will be for sale starting April 3, 2012, right when the canning season gets going.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Congratulations, Kate! You can count on one sale for sure!
Dan and Joyce
What is pickled that looks like white matchsticks?
lm
Thanks, folks. The white matchsticks are strips of pickled celery root.
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